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Seaside panoramic view of an Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences at Launch Pad 0A at NASA Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia Eastern Shore. Blastoff for the ISS is slated for Jan. 7, 2014 at 1:55 p.m. EDT. Credit: Ken Kremer kenkremer.com UPDATE Frigid Weather Delays Antares Launch to Jan. 8

The status quo in space flight operations is no more.

Private American rockets are leading the charge of overdue change into the innovative Commercial Space Race by blasting 2014 open with a pair of Big Bang fireworks just a day apart on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7.

A dynamic duo of US aerospace firms SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are each poised to launch their own recently developed private boosters in the first week of the new year and aiming to dramatically cut costs.

And to top that off, the rockets are thundering aloft from two different spaceports located some 800 miles apart along the US East coast weather permitting of course given the monster snow storm and frigid arctic air akin to Mars bearing down at this very moment on the big populations centers of the Atlantic coast region.

UPDATE ALERT Antares Launch just postponed to Wed, Jan 8 at 1:32 p.m.due to extremely cold weather forecast. Back up day is Jan. 9

Both companies are revolutionizing access to space for both government entities as well as commercial companies doing lucrative business in space.

The implications of vastly reducing expenses for space travel and space commerce are far reaching and imperative especially in the face of static and declining budgets mandated by politicians worldwide.

Except for China, which just landed its first rover on the Moon, is investing mightily in space and science and reaping strong economic growth.

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Private American Rockets Blast Open 2014 & Commercial Space Race with Big Bangs on Jan. 6 & 7